Page 6 of Addresses delivered at the Grand annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky : held at the Masonic Temple in the city of Louisville, October 18th, A.D. 1869, A.L. 5869 / Elisha S. Fitch.

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ADDRESS OF GRAND MASTER
To Mt. Vernon Lodge, No. 14, at Georgetown, Scott co., June 14;
To Morrison Lodge, No. 76, at Elizabethtown, Hardin co., Aug. 28.
I have also granted like Dispensations to the following Lodges, whose
charters have been lost:
To Columbus Lodge, No. 173, at Columbus, Hickman co., April 3;
To Monticello Lodge, No. 431, at Monticello, Wayne co., Sept. 15;
These dispensations having now expired by constitutional limitation, it
will devolve upon you to renew them, or supply charters in their stead, as
in your judgment may seem expedient. In regard to all those lodges, which
have been unfortunately despoiled of their charters, I would recommend the
donation of duplicates by this Grand Lodge, upon payment of the Grand
Secretary's fees.
Quite a large nuimber of petitions for new Lodges have been received and
dulv considered, and in withholding all further dispensations I fear I may
leave unfortunately subjected myself to the censoriousijudgment of many good
brethren throughout the State, whom I personally esteem and honor, and
would delight to serve in any matter involving simply a personal responsi-
bility. But while I sincerely regret their disappointment, and would not
willingly perpetuate any of the grievances, real or imaginary, of which they
complain, I nevertheless feel sustained in the negative policy I have pursued
by the highest interests, as I conceive, of the fraternity in this jurisdic-
tion.
By way ot self-vindication, permit me to say that in many instances the
petitioners themselves have unwittingly defeated their own purpose by put-
tiDg the case too strongly, or proving too much; for, in addition to the usual
loran of appeal, it would often be represented to the Grand Master, by way
of special inducement, that many members of an adjoining Lodge would
procure dimits and affiliate with the proposed new Lodge, as soon as organ-
ized; and yet, upon an examination of the annual returns, it would turn
out in evidence (as lawyers say) that the aforesaid adjoining Lodge was it-
self too feeble to undergo any depletion, and yet remain self-sustaining. In
all such cases, therefore, the establishment of the new Lodge would perhaps
involve the suspension or embarrass the work of an old one, and the result
would be, that while adding to the number of our Lodges, and thereby in
curring the expense of separate organizations, there would be but little, if
any, addition to our aggregate membership, and no commensurate increase
whatever of the general prosperity.
In other cases it was very apparent that the applications for new Lodges
were prompted by General Regulation No. 15. According to the represen-
tations of the parties, a large majority of them had been for many years
the victims of something like chronic coma-a sort of Rip Van Winkle
sleep-on the subject of Masonry, until their working tools had become
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